“In the Occupied Eastern Territories a number of offices and individuals are engaged in the safeguarding of objects of cultural value. They work from various approaches to the subject and independently of each other. It is absolutely essential for the administration of these territories that a survey be made of the existing objects of cultural value. Furthermore it must be endeavored, as a general rule, to leave them where they are for the time being. To this end I have set up a central office for the registration and safeguarding of objects of cultural value in the East as a special division within my ministry.”
Thus Rosenberg, as can be proved, proceeded from the point of view that objects of cultural value had to remain in the country and only through the retreat of the German troops were a few hundred valuable icons and paintings brought into Germany.
In time of war, objects of cultural value, both mobile and immobile, are as exposed to the danger of destruction as are any other objects of value. Rosenberg stopped all unnecessary destruction, theft, and removal; he centralized the safeguarding of objects of cultural value and had all necessary actions taken through his operational staff in the East and the West (for example, see Abel’s report on the library at Minsk, Document Number 076-PS). It is quite in accordance with the conception of international law (I quote Scholz, Privateigentum im besetzten und unbesetzten Feindesland, Berlin 1919, Page 36) that care should be taken on the part of the occupying powers not only to protect, but to safeguard and salvage protected objects of art as far as the war situation permits. It is even considered a cultural duty for the occupying power to remove particularly valuable objects of art from the combat zone and place them in safety as far as possible. Under certain circumstances the concept of international law may render it the cultural duty of the occupying power to bring into his own country for reasons of salvage objects of special scientific and artistic value. This is not an inadmissible “seizure” (Article 56, Paragraph 2, Rules of Land Warfare), because this term could only apply to acts which are anti-cultural, not to acts which are procultural. (See Scholz, as above, Page 37).
Finally, I want to refer to Document Number 1109-PS, a report according to which scientific institutes that had been saved were ready to be taken back to the Ukraine immediately after the hoped-for re-entry of the troops. I consider it completely impossible to read anything about looting into this clear text.
Certainly, in the East great quantities of cultural objects of considerable value were destroyed by direct military actions, or by wanton destruction, or looting. It would be a fundamental misconstruction of the true facts of the case, and a great injustice, if these losses should be charged to the account of the Einsatzstab and its chief, for his efforts went exactly in the opposite direction.
In the West (I refer to the testimony of the witness Robert Scholz of 19 June 1946, Document Number Rosenberg-41), the case was different but, in my opinion, here also the defendant cannot be charged with looting and robbing objects of art. When in the summer of 1940 the inhabitants of Paris, with the exception of the Jews, had once more returned, somebody conceived the idea of searching the now ownerless apartments, houses, and palaces for books and libraries and of taking to Germany whatever of this scientific material was of interest. From various branches of the Armed Forces came the report that especially in Jewish-owned palaces there were collections of objects of art which one could not guarantee to remain intact in case of a long occupation. Thereupon, Rosenberg made the proposal that his Einsatzstab be allowed to direct its attention to objects of art and to take them into its custody, which was then ordered by Hitler. What did the Einsatzstab do with these objects of art? It set up an accurate card index containing the names of the particular owner of each picture, photographed the art objects, scientifically appraised them, repaired them expertly insofar as was necessary, packed them carefully and shipped them to the Bavarian castles of Neuschwanstein and Chiemsee. Because of the danger of air raids, they were then stored in an old Austrian mine. Rosenberg attached great importance to keeping separate the objects cared for by the Einsatzstab, and not to have them mixed with the large-scale purchases which Hitler made for the proposed gallery in Linz.
Was that looting, robbery, theft? Looting is the indiscriminate and wanton carrying-off of objects in situations involving general distress and danger. Robbery is carrying off by force. Theft is carrying off without force. In all cases intent must exist to appropriate the object illegally for oneself or somebody else. What intent did Rosenberg have? He never denied that he and his co-workers had hopes of the pictures remaining in Germany. Perhaps as compensation or as a security for the peace negotiations, but in any case his intent was only directed at confiscating and safeguarding the objects and it has been proved that the question of what should be done with the confiscated items was left open until the end and that no decision was made on it. It is absolutely certain that Rosenberg did not have the intention of appropriating the things for himself or anybody else. If Rosenberg had been a plunderer of objects of art, he certainly would not have had exact notations made concerning dates and place of confiscation and names of the owners. As a precaution, however, I should also like to point out that because of the flight of their owners the objects were virtually ownerless, and that the question of the lack of a possessor and of the legality of their acquisition by Rosenberg cannot be judged by normal circumstances, but must be judged according to the extraordinary circumstances of the war. If the Prosecution claims that public and private objects of art were stolen at random, I should like to reply to the statement that only Jewish possessions, and indeed the specified ownerless objects were confiscated. Above all it is not true that state-owned property was also touched. Finally he did not act on his own responsibility but in carrying out a governmental order, and I want to ask that the fact be not overlooked that Rosenberg acted without any egotistical motive. Not a single picture passed into his private possession; he did not gain a single Reichsmark from this transaction involving millions, and after all, all the artistic and cultural property has been found again. I would like to thank the French Prosecution for having acknowledged this fact here publicly.
Göring supported the work of the Einsatzstab and, as he admits, “diverted” some objects for his own use, with the Führer’s approval. This disturbed Rosenberg because the Einsatzstab was in his name, and he declared that as a matter of principle he did not want to give anything even to the museums, that his task was purely one of registration and safeguarding. The Führer should have the final decision on these works of art. Rosenberg could not undertake anything against Göring, but he ordered his deputy Robert Scholz at least to make an accurate inventory of what was given to Göring, and to have the latter sign a receipt, which he did. Thus, most certainly it cannot be proved that Rosenberg had the intention of illegally appropriating the objects of art for himself or for somebody else. Furthermore, Robert Scholz confirmed that Rosenberg also forbade all his assistants to acquire any objects of art or culture even by virtue of an official appraisal (Document Number Rosenberg-41).
The Prosecution says that with the Rosenberg Einsatzstab a gang of vandals broke into the European House of Art in order to plunder in a barbarous way. If one contemplates the tremendous work of drawing up an inventory, of cataloging, of restoration, and of scientific appraisal, and if one finally bears in mind that all these treasures were most carefully stored away, and certainly came through the war better than would have been the case if the German authorities had not taken care of them, then I believe that, objectively speaking, one can use any term but that of “vandalism.”
THE PRESIDENT: I think this would be a good time to break off.